AB Aurigae disk (Ground-Based View)

esahubble_opo9921c
June 2nd, 1999

Credit:
P. Kalas ( Space Telescope Science Institute)

The image on the left represents the best ground-based coronographic observation of AB Aurigae. Paul Kalas of the Space Telescope Science Institute took the image with the University of Hawaii's 2.2-meter telescope. The telescope's coronograph eclipsed a 33.5-billion-mile (53.6-billion-kilometer) area centered on the star. This area is nine times larger than our solar system. The picture shows that the star resides in a region of dust clouds - the semicircular-shaped material to the left of the star.